


Catch My Breath

by LovelyRita1967



Series: Catch My Breath [1]
Category: The Witcher (TV), Wiedźmin | The Witcher (Video Game), Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types, Wiedźmin | The Witcher Series - Andrzej Sapkowski
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mixed Martial Arts, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Sports, Betaed, Crushes, Distracted by Dicks, First Kiss, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Homoerotic Sparring, Kickboxing, Light Angst, M/M, Meet-Cute, Mixed Martial Arts, Pining, Romance, Romantic Comedy, Sexual Tension, Sparring, Swearing, Sweat, jiu-jitsu, weightlifting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:14:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27453316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LovelyRita1967/pseuds/LovelyRita1967
Summary: Letho owns a Mixed Martial Arts training gym, and he is definitely not distracted by the new fighter that arrives...
Relationships: Eskel/Letho z Gulety | Letho of Gulet
Series: Catch My Breath [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2027008
Comments: 55
Kudos: 157
Collections: The Modern Witcher AU Collection





	Catch My Breath

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rawrkinjd](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rawrkinjd/gifts).



> Well, this is [rawrkinjd](https://archiveofourown.org/users/rawrkinjd/pseuds/rawrkinjd)’s fault. They wrote a smoking hot Letho/Eskel fic, and when I commented about how much I loved the pairing, they were like… “Lethskel romcom?🥺👉👈” I immediately could see Letho as the owner of an MMA gym where Eskel starts training. And once that idea took root, this fic was happening. Unfortunately, I knew sweet fuck all about MMA, so I watched a lot of videos and here we are. (If you’ve never seen jiu-jitsu before, you’ve gotta head straight to YouTube. You’ll see how much fun I had doing “research”.) Anyway, this is for rawr, my favourite fic author, who has been a huge inspiration to me. 
> 
> It also happened that [Marvagon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marvagon/), a new friend on Twitter, where we have been bonding over a love of Paul’s hair, trained in MMA for two years, and she helped me out soooo much. She sent me pictures and videos and answered a million questions, and then read the whole thing over for me at the end. She can’t be expected to explain it all to me though, so any mistakes that remain are mine. Thank you SO MUCH, M! You and your friendship are a gift. ♥♥
> 
> I also feel like I sort of need to apologize to my subscribers?? I wrote a whole bunch of sweet Geraskier romcoms in a row and you all subscribed, and the last, oh, fifteen updates you’ve gotten have been Regis/Tissaia, Lambert/Eskel, now Letho/Eskel, and the one Geraskier smut. Sorry? I hope I haven’t put you off. The next fic I am planning to write will be back to my roots. [Snowstorm](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26234902) Part 3, more sweet Geraskier. 
> 
> Once again, my beta [Blaire_Seton](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blaire_Seton/pseuds/Blaire_Seton/works) is the queen of my heart. I love her so much. Her friendship is one of the most important things in my life. Thank you thank you thank you for being you, Blaire.

Letho took a long pull from his water bottle and let his gaze wander around his gym as he caught his breath. 

His eyes were drawn to a man who was in the middle of the floor doing a focus pad drill with Auckes. He was sure he’d never seen the man in his gym before, yet based on the way he moved with such grace and confidence, he was clearly an experienced fighter. He was big and broad shouldered, though not as much as Letho, with dark brown hair that fell onto his forehead. Letho watched as he went through the drill without a moment of hesitation or single misplaced foot. 

“Who’s that?” Letho jerked his chin towards the man as he swiped a towel over his bald head. 

Serrit turned to look. “Oh, that’s Eskel. He stopped by last night after you’d gone home to sign up for a trial week.”

Letho watched the easy power behind Eskel’s punches and imagined he was holding a lot back still. 

Letho’s eyes trailed from Eskel’s barrel chest down to his impressive glutes. He idly wondered how much Eskel could bench, and it turns out he didn’t have to wait long to find out. 

He had ducked back into his office to change his shirt and take a quick look at the staffing for the rest of the week with Auckes. When he came out, his eyes immediately found Eskel again, who was loading weights onto a bar. Now was as good a time as any to go over and introduce himself. 

“Need a spot?” he offered as he approached.

Eskel looked up from his seat on the bench and took in Letho’s hulking form above him. He nodded and stuck out his hand. “Sure. Eskel.” 

“Letho.” 

They shook, Letho bracing himself for the death grip that other fighters seemed to think was needed to impress him or something. It didn’t come. Eskel’s grip was firm and comfortable. 

“Great place you have here,” Eskel said, looking around.

Letho folded his arms and nodded. “Thanks. What brings you to our gym?” 

Eskel tilted his head and looked at him a moment. “My last gym just… wasn’t a good fit for me anymore. I needed a change. I’ve heard good things about this one from some of my MMA buddies so I thought I’d come check it out.” 

“Well, welcome to the Viper Den.” 

“Thank you. Shall we?” He gestured to the bar. 

Letho was a little surprised to see how much weight Eskel had loaded and he almost said something, but thought better of it. Let the man show off a little if he needed to. He moved to the end while Eskel lay back. 

The weight was like nothing to him. Letho watched the bar rise and fall easily, Eskel’s chest and arms flexing. 

Eskel went through three sets, then reracked the bar and sat up, breathing a little heavier. 

Letho nodded. “You’ve got good form.”

“Thanks.” Eskel pulled his t-shirt off and used it to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

“You up for some sparring tomorrow maybe?” Letho asked. 

“Yeah… actually Auckes said he’d do a few rounds with me.” 

“Sounds good. Well, we’re glad to have you here. Let me know if you need anything.” 

_ And good luck to Auckes, _ Letho thought to himself. 

* * * * 

The next day Letho made sure he was out on the floor when he noticed Eskel and Auckes strapping on their gear. Eskel was wearing black compression tights and nothing else besides the helmet, gloves, and shin pads. Auckes was much leaner and lighter than Eskel, but was lightning-quick and had some of the best footwork Letho had ever seen. He was curious to see how they would match up. 

The two men went into the ring and tapped gloves, then went into their fighting stance. Auckes let Eskel make the first move, and he went with a few quick punches to start. As they warmed up, they started to add a few kicks, and Letho still had the sense that Eskel was holding back a lot more than was strictly necessary with an experienced fighter and trainer like Auckes. Still, it made sense. He was new here, and was still building trust with the people around him.

When they were done, both sweaty and smiling, they tapped gloves again, and made their way out of the ring. 

“How was that?” Letho asked, watching Eskel pull his gloves off and rub a towel over his face and chest. 

“Great,” Eskel grinned at Auckes. “He took it easy on me.” 

Auckes chuckled. “Pretty sure you were taking it easy on me.” 

Eskel took a long drink from his water bottle, then wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. “Let’s call it a warm up then.” 

“Deal.” 

They bumped fists again and, with a wave, Eskel wandered over to a corner of the mat to do some stretching. 

Letho looked back at Auckes with a raised eyebrow. 

“Yeah, he’s really fucking good. He knew exactly what I was going to do. And he didn’t put any heat into any of his punches.” 

“Well… push him a little next time. Let’s see what he’s got.” 

* * * * 

They sparred again a few days later, and this time Auckes went harder. Letho swore he could see Eskel smile a bit when Auckes threw his first roundhouse to Eskel’s head. He blocked it and stepped in with his own front kick. They traded punches and kicks smoothly, but this time the sweat came faster, the grunts of exertion a little louder. 

Letho could see Auckes was starting to really go for it, and Eskel met him shot for shot. Both men were glistening with sweat by the time they called it, tapping gloves and making their way out of the ring. Letho wandered over to where Eskel sprawled out on the floor to stretch out his hamstrings. 

“So… did you have a good week?” Letho asked casually. Eskel’s trial week was just about up and Letho wanted to know if he would be staying. 

“Yeah, it was great. Really nice group you’ve got here.” 

“Will you be joining us, then?” 

“Oh, yeah. No, definitely. If you’ll have me.” 

“You’ll be a great addition. And we’re focusing on jiu-jitsu next week. I’d hate for you to miss that.” 

* * * * 

Jiu-jitsu was probably Letho’s favourite part of MMA, both to teach and practice. Letho was almost always the biggest guy in the room, by a significant margin, but jiu-jitsu gave his opponents a fighting chance, where his reach and size didn’t give him such an advantage on the floor. 

He was just finishing teaching a beginner class when he saw Eskel watching from the side. 

“You wanna go for a roll?” Letho asked him almost without thinking. 

Eskel’s eyebrows arched the tiniest bit for a moment, but his face quickly relaxed into a smile. “Yeah. Sure.” 

Letho’s gym practiced No Gi jiu-jitsu, forgoing the traditional white kimono robes in favour of more standard MMA gear. Eskel wore his black compression shorts, and a grey rash guard.

Letho and Eskel bumped fists then took their fighting stances. In his peripheral vision Letho could see a few eyebrows go up and more than a few heads turned in their direction. _ I guess the sensei versus the big shot new guy is a pretty good draw, _ he was thinking, when Eskel dove in to close the distance and wrap his arms around Letho. 

_ Holy fuck, this guy is strong, _ he started to think, when Eskel attempted to sweep his leg to take him down. 

It worked. 

_ Fuck. If that’s how it’s going to be… _

Letho wrapped his legs around Eskel’s waist in a guard, keeping his elbows tight against his body while Eskel attempted to get his arm around Letho’s neck. Letho was having none of it and he successfully tipped Eskel over so they were both lying on their sides. 

They grappled for a few minutes, each trying to get into a more dominant position but neither making much headway. Letho finally managed to get Eskel into a side hold, chests pressed together but legs perpendicular, but before he knew it, Eskel had wiggled out and swung a leg up over Letho’s. 

They wrestled more, until Eskel had Letho in a mount, straddling his chest. Letho had been here a million times and normally didn’t panic, but he was suddenly very aware of Eskel’s dick. There it was, right in front of his face, and it was clearly very large. And then Eskel had him in an arm lock. He slid sideways onto his back, taking Letho’s arm with him, and when Letho felt his elbow joint starting to pop he tapped out. 

Eskel let go immediately and they both sat up, panting. He saw some smiles and impressed looks from the ring of spectators around the mat. Eskel sprang to his feet and offered Letho a hand up. 

“Thanks,” Eskel said, maybe holding onto Letho’s hand a moment longer than was strictly necessary. “That was fun.” 

“Yeah,” Letho said. “You’ve been doing this a while.” It wasn’t a question. They tapped fists again and went to find their water bottles. 

“I have,” Eskel nodded, taking a seat on a bench along the wall. Letho sat next to him. “My dad was a fighter. Me and my brothers have been training just about since we could walk.” 

“What did your mom think about that?” Letho asked, taking another long drink. 

“No mom,” Eskel said, softly. “My dad adopted the three of us.” 

“I’m adopted, too,” Letho found himself revealing. He never talked about his background if he could avoid it. It had not been a happy upbringing.

Changing the subject, Letho asked Eskel what he did for a living - private security - and they chatted a bit about what that was like. Turns out Eskel had more than a few stories about times his MMA training had come in handy. 

It wasn’t until later when Letho was alone, settled at his desk in his office, that he allowed himself to process what had happened. 

“I was distracted by his  _ dick," _ he muttered, running a hand over his face. “What the fuck.” It was the nature of MMA that dicks were in your face. You touched them even, sometimes, and people touched yours, and he had barely even noticed before. He hoped this wasn’t going to be a problem. 

* * * * 

It was a problem. He noticed he kept his gaze on the door until Eskel arrived the next day, and then his eyes constantly found him as he warmed up. Letho was chatting with Auckes and Serrit as they watched the sparring going on around them when Eskel came up to them. 

“Auckes, Serrit…. Letho,” he said, nodding to each one in turn. Letho thought maybe he held eye contact with him a little longer than the other two. “Are you up for another roll today, Letho?” 

Letho kept his eyes trained hard on Eskel’s lest they slide down to the very visible bulge in his shorts. “I should really, uh, get back to my paperwork.” 

“What paperwork?” Auckes asked, eyebrows bunched together. 

“Just the, uh…” Auckes was a great trainer but not always the sharpest tool in the shed. “The…” The thing with staring hard at Eskel’s deep brown eyes was that he couldn’t think straight.

“What? You gotta go again, Letho,” Serrit chimed in. “You can’t leave it with the new guy taking down the Viper.” 

With three pairs of eyes looking at him expectantly, Letho found himself agreeing. The smile that warmed Eskel’s face was worth it alone. But,  _ Fuck. Don’t think about his dick, Letho, _ was the only pep talk he could muster for himself. 

They bumped fists, and this time Letho was ready for Eskel’s quick attack. He didn’t let him get both arms around him again, and Eskel took a step back to reassess. And he smiled at him. 

_ Godsdamnit. _ Letho growled and went right for Eskel’s legs. He managed to get an arm around one, and now that Eskel was off balance for half of a second, he swept Eskel’s other leg out from under him and they crashed to the mat, Letho on top of Eskel. Letho leaned heavily on him, and got a whiff of Eskel’s scent. He had noticed it before, maybe it was his aftershave or deodorant or something, but this time he felt an overwhelming urge to bury his face in Eskel’s neck and take another deep breath. The moment was enough for Eskel to get his legs around Letho in a guard. 

Letho was furious at himself. He gritted his teeth and leaned forward, wrapping his hand around the back of Eskel’s head. His other arm went under Eskel’s leg. He was trying to get enough leverage to flip him over and break his guard. But Eskel was unbelievably strong and he tensed and held his position. Their eyes met, inches apart. For one breath, two, then Eskel bucked his hips up and got his legs around Letho’s neck. Letho’s mouth was now only an inch from Eskel’s bulge. Before he could allow his brain to process that, his muscle memory took over, and he summoned all his strength to wrench Eskel over onto his side. 

Eskel tried to squirm away but Letho straddled him in a mount and pressed down against him. Eskel was too skilled to try to push Letho away and expose his arms for Letho to go for a joint lock that way, but he seemed unsure how to proceed with Letho’s weight pinning him down. He looked up at him, and the fucker  _ smiled  _ again. 

Eskel grabbed one of Letho’s wrists and tried to break his grip. This allowed Letho to slip his arm around Eskel’s neck and get him in a chokehold. He squeezed gently, hoping it would be enough for Eskel to tap out. It was not. Eskel was still pulling on Letho’s wrist and trying to use his legs to kick free. Letho squeezed a little harder and was relieved when he finally felt Eskel tap his shoulder. 

He let go and heard Eskel suck in a ragged breath. 

“Are you okay?” he asked, looking down into pools of liquid brown. 

“Yeah,” Eskel wheezed. “I’m good.” 

Letho listened to Eskel’s breath even out when he suddenly realized he was still straddling the man. He quickly scooted off and held out his hand to pull Eskel to standing. This time he was  _ sure  _ Eskel held his hand longer than he needed to. 

“Thanks,” Eskel said, offering his fist. 

Letho tapped it. “Anytime.” 

They sat on the bench again, knees only an inch away from touching. “So what made you leave your last gym?” Letho suddenly asked, eager to know more about what made Eskel tick. 

Eskel scratched the back of his head. “It… uh… I wish I had a better story. Basically I was dating one of the trainers and when I broke up with him, he… didn’t take it well. I just couldn’t go there anymore.” He saw the look Letho was giving him. “Stupid, right? I don’t know what I was thinking. We had nothing in common.” He laughed. “He was hot though.” He shook his head and took another swig of water. 

Letho’s brain was still stumbling over the “he”. 

“Well…” he cleared his throat. “We’re glad you came here.” 

“I’m glad, too.” 

* * * * 

Of course, the other part of Eskel’s revelation was that he thought it was stupid to date his trainer. Not that Letho thought it was a good idea, either. However, he  _ had _ met plenty of couples who trained their partner… Eskel’s was just  _ one  _ bad experience.

Letho quickly became Eskel’s regular sparring partner. Sometimes Letho was teaching, or  _ actually _ dealing with paperwork, but more often than not, he found time in his day to go a round or two with Eskel. They sometimes boxed (Letho had the upper hand here with his longer reach) but they mostly stuck to jiu-jitsu. Letho was getting better at not being distracted by Eskel’s package, but it was fair to say Eskel won more than one match because of his crotch in Letho’s face. 

And when he wasn’t distracted by the thought of what was in those tight shorts, it was his enticing smell, or it was the way his hair fell across his forehead. The warmth of his back against Letho’s chest, or the way he looked him deep in the eyes and held his hand for a moment too long when they were done. 

It was all the conversations they had after their session, sitting side by side on the bench as their breath came back to them, draining their water bottles and sharing stories from their lives. They both loved Thai food and secretly didn’t really like the Marvel movies. All of these things were indeed very distracting, and Letho was not doing well. 

“What’s with you?” Auckes finally asked one day, piercing the silence as Letho gazed past his laptop screen out to the weightlifting area. 

“What?” Letho jumped. “Nothing.” 

Auckes’ eyes slid over to the weightlifters, where he undoubtedly noticed Eskel doing squat thrusts. 

“You’re just a little edgy lately.” 

“Hmm,” Letho grunted, shuffling some papers. “I’m fine.” 

“Okay,” said Auckes airily. “Hey, I was wondering what you thought about getting Eskel to maybe help with some of the beginner classes?”

Letho nearly flinched at the mention of Eskel’s name. “Huh?”

“Well, I don’t know if you've noticed, but Eskel is really fitting in here.” Letho had, in fact, noticed. “Everyone seems to love him. He’s been really helping out some of the newer guys, and we’ve been so swamped lately… maybe he could help out with your beginning jiu-jitsu?” 

“Yeah, I mean… maybe. If he wants to.” 

“Great, I’ll ask him!” 

* * * * 

Eskel happily agreed to help out with the class and Letho watched him working with the beginners, so kind and gentle, with smiles and encouraging words for everyone. It was the last class of the night, and once the students were gone, Eskel followed Letho to the office. 

“That was really fun. Thanks for letting me help.” Eskel leaned against the counter, watching Letho close his laptop and tidy away a few papers. 

Letho nodded. “You’re a good teacher. Everyone loves you.” 

“Do they?” he chuckled. 

Letho realized what he had said and stuffed his laptop in his bag, cheeks flushing a little. “Yeah, I guess. That’s what Auckes said, anyway.” 

Eskel nodded, smiling at him. Fuck, that smile  _ killed him. _

“Do you want to go get a beer?” Eskel asked, out of nowhere. 

Letho nearly dropped his bag. “Uh, yeah. Sure. Why not.”

There was a decent pub just down the road so they walked in the cool night air together. Their shoulders bumped together a lot, but that was hard to avoid when two men as large as them walked down a narrow sidewalk together. 

They chatted easily about how the class had gone and what their students needed to work on next week. It wasn’t until they settled in a corner, knees pressed together under the small table, that Letho suddenly felt his palms sweating and his heart racing. 

“I was thinking,” Eskel said without preamble. “Remember how I told you it was stupid to date a trainer at my old gym?” 

Letho felt his eyes widen and looked around desperately for the beers they had ordered. Finding them not there, he nodded awkwardly instead, looking at his hands. 

“It wasn’t dating a trainer that was the stupid part. It was dating a guy that I knew nothing about.” 

Letho’s brain was trying to make sense of what Eskel was telling him, but it came to a screeching halt when one of Eskel’s hands rested on one of his. His eyes flew up to meet Eskel’s. They were warm and bright, looking at him intently. 

“I know a lot about you, Letho.” He squeezed his hand and shifted over in his chair a little. 

“Um,” Letho offered, his mouth dry. “Are you saying you like me?” It was all he could think to say. 

Eskel laughed gently, his eyes crinkling. “Yeah, I’m saying I like you.” And then he leaned over, and gently brushed his lips against Letho’s. “Do you like me?” he whispered into his mouth. 

In response, Letho pressed his lips against Eskel’s. The hand that Eskel wasn’t holding crept onto the other man’s leg under the table. He opened his mouth a little and sucked Eskel’s lower lip in. Then he remembered they were in the middle of a pub and he pulled back with a quiet gasp. 

They looked at each other. 

“Well, fuck,” Letho said. 

They drank their beers very quickly, Letho throwing down a bill that was much too large on the table and not caring one bit as they hurried out to Letho’s car. “My place?” he grunted as they climbed in. It was clean and close by. Good enough for him. 

Eskel’s eyes were burning him. “Hell, yes.” 

Eskel’s hand slid onto Letho’s thigh as they drove, fingertips tracing lazy circles that were making Letho fucking insane. 

Once his car stopped in his garage and they clambered out, he all but hauled Eskel through the door, then pushed him back against it, pressing his lips to Eskel’s in a desperate, bruising kiss. Eskel kissed back just as hard, mouth opening and tongue winding into Letho’s mouth. Letho took it, and wanted even more. He pulled back for only a second to peel Eskel’s hoodie and t-shirt off then took his lips again, reveling in the feel of Eskel’s naked chest under his hands. 

“Gods,” Eskel panted into his mouth. “I want you so bad.” 

“You’ve got me,” Letho rumbled. 

Eskel’s hands slid under Letho’s shirt and he let Eskel pull it off and throw it aside. 

Letho led Eskel over to his couch and fell back onto it, pulling Eskel down on top of him. 

Letho’s lips found Eskel’s neck, and he sucked on the tender skin there, feeling dizzy with Eskel’s scent. His hands slid down Eskel’s back under his waistband and, gripping his ass, he pulled Eskel against him. He could feel his hard length pressing against his own and they both groaned. 

“Yes, take me, Letho,” Eskel whispered. That was all he needed. 

* * * * 

At the gym the next day Letho was a ball of nerves waiting for Eskel to arrive. He had driven Eskel back to his car and they parted with a kiss, but he felt nervous to see him again in the light of day. Would Eskel regret falling into bed (er, the couch) with him last night? 

He pounded the speed bag a few more times while Auckes looked at him askance. But then his worries melted away when he looked up, and there was Eskel heading over, watching him with the softest eyes in the world. 

“Hey,” he said to Letho, with a small, knowing smile. 

“Hey,” Letho said, grabbing onto the bag to settle it.

Auckes looked back and forth between them. “Uh, hi, Eskel.” 

“Hi, Auckes,” Eskel said pleasantly, without tearing his eyes away from Letho’s. “How are you today?” 

“I’m good.” Auckes shook his head. “How are you guys?” 

“We’re great,” Eskel said, giving Letho a wink. “Care to go for a roll, Letho?” 

**Author's Note:**

> If you’d like some more explicit Lethskel, here is rawr’s fic [A Viper’s Wolf](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26815471/chapters/65418877).
> 
> You can also check out Blaire’s amazing canon [Geraskier writing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blaire_Seton/pseuds/Blaire_Seton).
> 
> Or you can [read all my other work here or subscribe to me](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LovelyRita1967/pseuds/LovelyRita1967) to make sure you don’t miss any! 
> 
> Come say hi on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/LovelyRita1967) (18+) and [Tumblr](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/lovelyrita1967). I follow back! 
> 
> Kudos are so appreciated, and each and every comment makes me sooooo insanely happy. Thank you ♥‿♥


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